SEO Marketing Research

It is necessary that BPO agreements be designed to provide for adequate flexibility in order to withstand both the dynamics of the business environment and the pressures that are inherent in such a contractual agreement.

Typically, BPO contract agreements are crafted on certain key assumptions pertaining to technologies, business conditions, personnel, and other relevant issues. But these assumptions are likely to change with time.

No matter how detailed the contract or favorable the terms, BPO agreements cannot anticipate all of the changes that occur in a dynamic, global business environment.

This inability to anticipate changes tends to ensure that one, if not both, of the parties will become disenchanted with the relationship over time.

Long-term contracts that back flexibility significantly increase the likelihood of dissatisfaction between the parties and can adversely affect the relationship.

Once the contract is in force, there is a great temptation for both parties to suboptimize the relationship and attempt to better their lot-often at the expense of the other party.

The best way to reduce this temptation is to craft a contract for a long-term relationship with short-term SLAs that can be adjusted to meet changing conditions.

The long-term provisions in the contract spell out the spirit and intent of the parties. The short-term SLAs can be adjusted to include changing metrics and measurement instruments, as well as clanging strategic goals of one or both parties.

Report This Post

Four fundamental characteristics will give shape to any BPO relationship regardless of industry or BPO type:

The depth of the relationship
The scope of the relationship
The choice of assets to use
The choice of business culture to adopt and exploit

The depth of the BPO relationship depends on the criticality of the outsourced business process.

The closer the outsourced process is to the core business process of the BPO buyer, the greater the depth required in the BPO relationship.

Based on the importance of the outsourced functions and how these functions would change or evolve, the resulting relationships can be as follows:

• Arm’s length, and primarily cost or service level agreement (SLA) driven
• Cooperative, necessitating intense dialogue between the parties
• An extension of the buyer’s organization, with a number of dependencies and commitments between the parties for each other’s success

As a rule of thumb, the deeper the BPO relationship, the more tightly coupled and potentially synergistic are the buyer and vendor firms.

From an operational perspective, tight coupling refers to the extent and frequency of information and resource sharing between the two firms.

Deep relationships require tight coupling because the outsourced process is usually proximate to the buyer’s core competence and is highly fault intolerant.

Information must flow freely in both directions to ensure that the outsourced process is being executed to specifications and to ensure that any variations are kept within tolerable performance limits.

A deep BPO relationship requires that the parties develop a project management plan that specifies regular interorganizational communication and information sharing in a transparent manner.

This should include provisions for routine contacts as well as emergency meetings and communication channels.

A BPO relationship that is not considered to be deep will not require as-frequent communications.

The project management team (PMT) will need to determine what is appropriate based on its shared expectations and beliefs about this characteristic of the relationship.

The scope of a BPO relationship depends on whether the buyer works with separate BPO providers for various outsourced functions on develops a relationship with one or only a limited number of providers.

Working with multiple vendors for a wide variety of business functions will necessitate a proportionately larger PMT or perhaps multiple PMTs. There are advantages to working with multiple vendors, as well as disadvantages.

Single-service providers often have developed levels of specialization and expertise that enable them to deliver world-class levels of service.

The downside of working with single-service vendors is that each outsourced process requires getting to know and manage each new vendor.

Managing multiple vendors presents a multitude of challenges for the BPO buyer and adds to the overall costs of outsourcing.

Multiple-service vendors provide enhanced opportunities for strategic gains based on level of familiarity with the buyer.

The more processes, information, and knowledge shared between BPO buyer and vendor, the greater will be the potential for insights into overall business processes and strategy.

New ideas and ways of operating can and should be derived from a working relationship of this type.

The downside of working with a single on limited number of vendors is that there is greater risk to the business.

This risk is mitigated by the level of familiarity and comfort that would necessarily precede any decision to continue to shift processes to the multiple-services vendor.

It would be foolhardy to continue to shift processes to a vendor if the buyer lacked confidence in the vendor’s ability to perform.

The project management plan may necessitate multiple internal BPO champions and PMTs if a multiple vendor strategy is used.

In this instance, the steering team will need to integrate the various internal teams to enable cross-functional knowledge sharing.

This integration mole is in addition to the standard oversight mole that the steering team must perform regardless of the number of BPO relationships.

Companies that opt for a single or limited number of vendors may be able to assign each to a single champion or PMT. In that case, the steering team’s role is primarily oversight.

Because outsourcing usually involves handing over the control and maintenance of certain processes to a third party, the issue arises of whose assets will be used to execute the deal, including people, physical infrastructure, and technical assets.

There is no simple answer to the “whose assets?” question, but the answer is made easier by focusing on business-specific issues.

For instance, germane to this question is the relative ease with which the buyer or vendor can obtain and manage the needed assets.

Another relevant factor to consider is which firm is better able to invest in asset development, both for scale and innovation purposes.

The choice of which organization’s culture and operating style to choose should be entirely pragmatic.

There is no need to take political stands, nor should one party or the other insist on adopting one or the other culture based on personal familiarity and comfort.

The latter issue will be particularly important in offshore BPO where cultural issues, from length of workday to disparate treatment of gender or socioeconomic class, are most likely to arise.

Of course, no BPO buyer or vendor should violate laws or their own ethical standards when working with an offshore (or onshore, for that matter) partner.

At the same time, there will be occasions when insisting on imposing one’s own culture and way of working will be counterproductive.

The watchword to keep in mind when choosing which firm’s culture to leverage for the BPO project is pragmatic: Which culture will be most likely to lead to a successful project?

This question is not easy to answer, but several key considerations can be weighed and evaluated.

BPO buyers should work closely with their vendors to address the “whose culture?” issue.

This is not a time to shrink from the hard and possibly awkward questions that must be asked.

A solid BPO relationship must deal frankly with cultural differences and must focus on the common goal- effective performance of the business process.

Of course, a BPO buyer must always be concerned about the consequences at home from its vendor selection.

Historically, a primary issue of contention has revolved around unacceptable foreign labor laws.

Nevertheless, as the Ethics and Governance insert indicates, the issue has now heated up politically around the issue of moving jobs onside the United States.

Report This Post

Managing the business process outsourcing (BPO) relationship successfully is a challenge for buyers and vendors alike.

Notwithstanding the potential benefits of outsourcing the complex nature of an outsourcing agreement lends itself to a variety of challenging relationship management issues.

Although relationship management is a key component of any successful outsourcing project, it is the most often neglected one.

Companies considering BPO must be aware that the traditional tactics for managing relationships between buyers and suppliers are inadequate for managing a BPO relationship.

Although it is true that outsourcing is a service procured by a company in accordance with its needs and usually in compliance with its established procurement process, the dynamics and nuances of an outsourcing partnership go beyond that normally found in a typical buyer-supplier relationship.

For that reason, it is imperative that BPO buyers recognize the need for a formal approach to BPO relationship management.

The foundation of a BPO relationship is laid when a company begins to communicate its intention to outsource.

Successful management of the outsourcing relationship depends on how the requirements are defined, the objectives described, the vendor chosen, and the contract written.

Additionally, the people selected to manage the relationship are key because managing BPO relationships requires a variety of skills, including the following:

? Negotiation skills. There will often be give and take in a BPO relationship. Thus, it is important that the project management team be skilled in negotiating points of view and in presenting them in an acceptable manner to the vendor.

? Communication skills. Outsourcing project management teams are the glue between a company’s business needs and the vendor’s services. Effective communication skills are necessary to prevent simple problems from becoming complex ones.

? Business skills. It is important to continually understand the changing business needs and align the services from the vendor with the BPO buyer’s business objectives.

The senior management of the BPO buyer must necessarily be involved in periodically monitoring the BPO relationship and in ensuring that it stays on track.

Senior management plays a critical role in communicating the reasons for and results of outsourcing across the company.

Some firms, such as FMC Corporation, have created the position of outsourcing relationship manager, as the Case Study indicates.

Ultimately, the barometer of a good relationship is the ability of both parties to respect each other’s roles and responsibilities and to operate within the confines of a mature, communicative, and trusting project management plan.

It is worth the time and investment on the part of both the BPO buyer and vendor to institute such a formal plan to continuously monitor various aspects of the BPO relationship and take immediate corrective measures whenever it goes awry.

To achieve those benefits, both parties must also have a trusting relationship built on a stable framework of communication, information sharing, and mutual understanding.

In this article, we examine the essentials of an effective BPO relationship based on a formal project management plan.

The relationship management principles discussed are applicable to most BPO projects across all industry segments.

Where added complexities arise from the nature of the industry or the BPO type (i.e., onshore versus offshore) we attempt to highlight them and suggest possible ways of managing the additional challenges.

Nevertheless, every BPO relationship is unique and there is clearly no generic approach to relationship management. BPO buyers and vendors alike should use the principles we articulate as guidelines for effective action, not as prescriptions to impose under any circumstances.

It is during this phase, after the contract has been signed and the BPO project has begun, that each party begins to reveal more of itself to the other.

Tense situations can arise based on unexpected difficulties and sensitivities. We discuss six ingredients that are mandatory for a successful BPO relationship and seven common errors organizations make to derail a BPO relationship. We begin with a discussion of fundamental characteristics of all BPO relationships.

Report This Post

The final consideration in managing the business process outsourcing (BPO) transition is to ensure business continuity throughout the process.

It is to be expected that performance indicators for the outsourced process are likely to be down or flat during the early stages of the transition.

It might also occur that processes tightly linked to the outsourced process will also experience performance difficulties during this phase.

Despite the expected performance dips, managers should have detailed performance benchmarks that provide a means of judging the extent f the effect and whether intervention is required.

Business continuity during transformational change is difficult, often requiring long hours and skill-stretching behavior.

Managers who find frequent employee meetings and communication an annoyance will be challenged to stretch their skills in these areas.

The organization as a whole may need to work carefully with local media representatives, who may have spotted a human-interest story amidst the outsourcing-induced RIF.

Public relations and corporate communications, two units that may have been sleepily releasing good-news items on a regular basis, may now be called on to assertively address challenging questions about global job shifts and free trade.

Business continuity requires that the organization manage the internal disruptions to workflow by establishing acceptable limits on variation in normal performance.

Six Sigma goals may need to be relaxed slightly during the transition phase to account for the learning curve that will need to be traversed.

Yet, the organization does not want merely any result to count as acceptable. Reasonable, transition-phase-only benchmarks should be adopted and carefully monitored.

Managers should be ready to intervene only when performance falls below the benchmark value, and they should be equally vigilant to stay the course and allow employees to learn and improve the new system through the transition.

The latter is a difficult but necessary management tactic. Too-early intervention will short-circuit the learning process.

Performance levels should rise as the transition unfolds, and new performance peaks are more likely to be sustained if managers practice the discipline of allowing the mistakes and learning process to run its course.

Report This Post

Beyond the organizational units immediately affected by the business process outsourcing (BPO) project are employees who are friends, relatives, and acquaintances of those affected BPO project managers must not overlook the ripple effects that are created by outsourcing and the threat that others might fed from witnessing the introduction of BPO into neighboring work units.

In addition to the heightened sense of insecurity that may arise, there will be concerns about workflow issues and day-to-day business continuity.

Organizational units that work closely with the outsourced function may be concerned about the capability of the vendor to achieve the same level of productivity. Other concerns that may arise are as follows:

? Will we have to work extra hand to make the BPO transition work?
? Will my job change as a result of the introduction of new work processes
? Who will be receiving my work output, and will be on she be able to understand it?
? Will I be able to adapt to the vendor and its people?
? How will the organization’s customers react to changes in personnel and/or procedures?

In managing the BPO transition as it affects units beyond the outsourced activity, the story has immense value. A consistent stony will help quell the rumor mill and alleviate confusion and misunderstanding.

At the same time, it will be vital for managers throughout the organization to be able to demonstrate buy-in to the BPO project and refrain from public naysaying if they do not fully support the initiative.

Thus the top leadership of the organization must develop support for the BPO project across organizational boundaries, vertical and horizontal.

At a minimum, the management team must be united in its public support of the BPO initiative. At best, everyone should be aligned to support the initiative and be mobilized to lend a hand whenever and wherever needed.

Report This Post

Managing job loss and changeover is assuredly among the most difficult challenges that managers face, no matter what the cause of the upheaval.

It is no secret that most rank-and-file employees in the organization who are likely to be displaced by a business process outsourcing (BPO) initiative are living paycheck to paycheck.

The looming prospect of job displacement as a result of the organization’s decision to outsource is not likely to be met with shouts of joy.

Whether the anticipated job displacement includes termination or shifting responsibilities, the reaction is predictable: Some will rush for the exit, others will cower and hope for the best, others will fight, and some will simply deny reality.

Each of these reactions to the prospect of outsourcing must be managed and, the good news is, each of these can be managed.

A thorough analysis of the costs of a BPO project will include projected job losses and job shifts, and the cost of outplacement and/or retraining services.

Many firms opt for a ruthless strategy during reduction-in-force (RIF) initiatives, bur others have found tremendous value in using a more humane approach. Whatever approach is chosen, a detailed RIF plan is essential to minimize rancor, control the culture, and reduce exposure to liability.

A detailed RIF plan will consider a wide range of factors when identifying the individuals who will be terminated and the procedures to be used to undertake the terminations.

An RIF plan should consider each individual’s skills and abilities and determinations of their relative contributions to the firm.

It would be unwise to simply use an across-the-board RIF strategy if there are promising up-and-comers who would be terminated in the process.

The organization does not want to lose potential future stars to the cost-cutting measures that are part of the BPO project.

An RIF plan is typically developed by the management team in an off-site and secure setting. The list of individuals targeted for termination should be carefully guarded.

Managers’ should receive thorough training on the procedures that will be used with the terminated employees. The Ethics and Governance insert provides a few guidelines on how to develop an RIF plan that minimizes exposure to liability.

The RIF plan should consider the options available to reduce the impact of the displacement for employees. For instance, early retirement programs may be an option for senior employees.

Voluntary buyouts of employment agreements may be used in cases where a contract is in force. Many organizations attempt to obtain a release of potential claims from workers terminated as a result of an RIF.

This will require some form of consideration from the organization, usually severance pay. Other forms of consideration for a release include a reference letter or payment of insurance premiums for a defined period.

Some firms have been able to shift employees from direct employment to contract labor, using them on an as-needed basis. Such an arrangement often works very well both for the organization and for the displaced worker.

Elements of a Defensible RIF Plan
Employers should follow these essential steps when carrying out a reduction in force RIF:

• Decide what criteria will be used to select those for termination (e.g., geography, seniority, line of work, merit ranking).
• Make sure the criteria are followed.
• Be certain that the RIF criteria conform to company policy.
• Have at least one level of review of termination decisions.
• Perform a “disparate impact” review of those chosen for termination to make sure there is no discrimination, even unintentional.
• Document the entire process.
Source: Fair Employment Practices Guidelines, January 15, 2003 (Aspen Publishers).

The RIF plan should also include provisions for assisting displaced employees in their desire to gain new employment. Some firms set up career and psychological counseling services to assist employees through the initial shock.

Many also establish job centers-usually away from the corporate campus- to help employees find new jobs. The job centers provide support in résumé writing, interviewing skills, and job listings.

They may also provide employees with other short-term services such as daycare for parents who cannot afford it without a job, seminars on job hunting, and even training programs to help people achieve new skills for a changed job market.

Report This Post

Effective communication with employees is vital to the business process outsourcing (BPO) transition process. A lack of communication from managers to employees does not mean a lack of communication within the organization.

Organizational space abhors a communication vacuum. If the space is not filled with deliberate, optimistic, and directive messages from leadership, it will be filled by rumors, gossip, and speculation from the employees.

People need to understand their environment and will settle for half-baked speculative explanations if no better alternatives are available.

Effective employee communications begin with a simple notion: honesty. Honesty is the best policy not only because it is ethically correct, but also because half-truths and lies will ultimately destroy morale and productivity.

At the same time, blunt honesty is rarely a useful strategy. When asked about the results of a person’s weight loss efforts, the savvy respondent gives the aspiring weight loser an answer that does not offend, rather than the bluntly honest one. This is called common sense.

In organizational life, it also does not do any good to answer questions with blunt honesty.

Tact and sophistication can reduce the impact of a bluntly honest message. Organizations seeking to undertake a BPO initiative will often be entertaining the prospect of headcount reduction.

As one might expect, communicating that reality to employees may be detrimental to productivity.

At the same time, equivocating about the potential for job loss or outright denial of the possibility would be disingenuous, and that would be obvious even to those less talented at reading social cues.

The key to effective communication, then, is not simply honesty, but rather sophisticated honesty. By that we mean managers must communicate accurately and competently with employees about the extent and implications of the BPO initiative.

Accuracy pertains to the truthfulness of the message. There should be no question about the value of this quality. Competence pertains to the level of detail that is provided in a message to a given party.

Employees at different levels of the organization will need and benefit from different levels of detail about the initiative.

At a minimum, managers should communicate with all employees about what the BPO initiative means to them personally and what the organization intends to do to help them through the transition.

Every impact message delivered by management should be accompanied by a “here’s what going to do about it” message. This may even include the level of outplacement support that is going to be provided to employees who stand to lose their jobs as a result of the BPO initiative.

Report This Post

Effective change management in organizations has been studied and examined in great detail.

No stone has been left unturned because scholars and organizational consultants recognize that this is a particularly needful (and lucrative) area in which to practice.

Unfortunately for managers who have to sift through all of the articles, reports, books, and consultant schemes, it is not clear which of the approaches should be used to manage the changes produced by a business process outsourcing (BPO) initiative.

Take heart-in the end, the well-chosen actions taken to manage change are less important than their consistent and well-communicated application.

Let us state that again: The well-chosen actions taken to manage the changes brought by BPO are less important than their consistent and well-communicated application.

Of course, that does not mean to suggest that all managerial interventions are created equal.

The consistent application of a poor technique will inevitably produce poor results. That is why we added the “well-chosen” caveat.

The change management strategy adopted should be one that makes sense under the circumstances.

It would be difficult for the project management team to explain and/or defend its change management tactics if it was obvious that they were inappropriate or plainly ineffective.

The most important insight that change management scholars and years of organizational experience have uncovered is that consistent application of a sensible strategy is necessary to produce effective results.

Most would agree that any attempt to achieve “optimum” results is likely to lead to paralysis, as the search for the perfect technique to match current conditions would be inordinately time-consuming and fraught with endless debate.

Rather, the predominant counsel today is to use a satisfying approach-one that will produce results that exceed certain prespecified and, hopefully, measurable parameters, but might not be the optimum solution.

Satisficing is a concept not used often enough among those who execute organizational change management tactics and strategies.

It is a handy concept-handier than, say, synergy-that promotes action over inaction, results over paralysis, and consistency over trendy management theories. We recommend that the concept become a part of the project management team (PMT’s) lexicon and a pillar of efficient change management style.

In light of our recommendation that the consistent application of a well-chosen strategy rather than the strategy itself is the most important factor in effective BPO-induced change management, let us examine change management principles that qualify as well-chosen. Experience and scholarly research converge on a few guiding principles:

? Effective change management requires a compelling vision of the outcome of the change process.

? Effective change management requires visible leadership from top management of the organization.

? Effective change management requires extensive communication and opportunities for employee feedback.

? Effective change management requires the ability to deal with job loss and changeover.

? Effective change management requires an ability to maintain business continuity and benchmark performance.

In the following sections, each of these general principles is examined in greater detail and in light of their application within a BPO imitative.

Creating a Compelling Vision
It is easy for management to deride the value of vision to organizational achievement. After all, it is usually not the visionaries who are celebrated in song and story-it is the action figures we prefer.

The visionaries are often considered to be soft, pensive, or overly cautious. And certainly, anyone could waste a lot of time in dreaming up a vision and trying to crystallize it in his or her mind.

Vision, so conceived, is a waste of time and has no place in the competitive global arena in which most organizations are striving to eke out advantages over rivals.

Yet, a less exaggerated concept of vision does have an important role to play in the alignment of organizational goals and individual efforts.

As has been amply demonstrated, clarity on the outcome of a difficult and challenging project helps people establish a sense of flow and ownership that can lead to high levels of performance under difficult circumstances.

An effective organizational vision is not something that is pondered over and analyzed to infinite detail.

It is nothing more than a tale-a story-of what the outcome of a project is expected to look and feel like to organizational members.

It is up to the managers creating the vision to determine how much detail is required to tell a story that is compelling enough to drive high performance.

For skeptical listeners, the story may need greater detail and more analogies to satisfy them.

For already-converted listeners, less detail and more encouragement to step out and take action may be all that is required.

Corporate storytelling has become a high-value consulting specialization for some. Firms such as Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, and Rolls Royce recognize that overreliance on the alphabet soup acronyms of many change management programs leads to stupefying doubt and confusion.

They have developed corporate stones to enliven the troops and align them on a common purpose.

It is likely that many of the managers reading this book do not fancy themselves the storytelling type.

A good corporate story does not need to live dramatic characters or daring action heroes. All that is required is a word-picture of the expected outcomes of the project and the likely impact for the people operating it.

It strikes us that managers who lack such a vision are flailing about and succeed only by chance.

Far better for personal success, as well as the success of the overall project and the organization, is to craft a working articulation (a story) of the outcomes of the project and then refine the story as required.

Five basic elements must be present to make storytelling an effective technique for leading change.

These elements of effective organizational storytelling are straightforward enough to be practiced by nearly anyone in a project management role.

Mangling a BPO transition requires placing the project in the context of the bigger picture, including the likely future state of the organization and its people.

Developing and articulating a truthful story about the organization’s likely future state will not eliminate all change-induced problems.

Nevertheless, abdicating that responsibility will undoubtedly mean that the organization will experience a greater number and intensity of change management issues during the BPO transition.

Elements of Effective Organizational Storytelling
• Effective stories are context specific. Research indicates that linking an activity or     project to a company’s strategic challenges improves the effectiveness of the initiative.

• Effective stories are level appropriate. The storyteller should frame stones so that participants can see themselves in it and reflect on what they might do to resolve the challenges it poses.

• Role modes tell effective stories. Storytellers must be both highly respected role models and highly accessible coaches.

• Effective stories have drama. The best stories focus on the storyteller’s need to make tough choices, usually without perfect information or complete agreement among involved parties.

• Effective stories have high learning value. For a story to be effective it must stimulate learning, and for learning to have impact it must produce changes in behavior.

Report This Post

Standard definitions of leadership distinguish it from management by associating the former with something like vision and the latter with something like operations.

This crude distinction does not always hold, of course, because managers are often cabled on to articulate a vision and leaders must occasionally roll up their sleeves and take action.

Still, if we regard the distinction as one of degree rather than absolute, it is true enough. Leaders generally spend more time crafting and articulating vision than operating, and managers usually spend more time operating than crafting a vision.

With that said, it is possible to provide some useful recommendations into how leaders and managers differ in their respective roles during the transition and operating phases of a business process outsourcing (BPO) project.

The transition phase of the BPO Life Cycle is a true turning point in the BPO project-the organization is now implementing changes that heretofore had only been talked about.

The rumors and fears that are often associated with the preoperational BPO phases have now given way to real changes in organizational workflow, personnel, policies, and procedures.

Managers are needed to help guide these new ways of doing things into the organization’s overall workflow.

Leaders are needed to hold the organization together with steadfast vision and courage. Let us look at each role in a little more detail beginning with management.

It may help to envision the role of the manager during the transition phases of the BPO Life Cycle if we develop a scenario that reflects what might be occurring in the typical workplace.

That people resist change is one of the few things that can be counted on in the unpredictable world of business.

Managers are faced with operational challenges, deadlines, and goals-yet they must motivate others in order to reach those goals.

In BPO, it is occasionally necessary to motivate others to perform when their jobs are being eliminated and/or the threat of job elimination looms. Other impediments to a BPO implementation that have to be managed include the following:

? Effects on personnel not displaced by the BPO project, but who may fear being next in line
? Attitudes of personnel regarding the presence of outsiders in the organization
? Attempts by some to impede progress or a lack of willing participation in the changeover
? Fear of failure under the new workflow model

Individuals within the organization not displaced by the BPO project may harbor beliefs that it is only a matter of time before their jobs are outsourced.

Many are aware of the outsourcing trend that has been in the news, and they may have witnessed the anguished faces of individuals within the organization whose jobs are being outsourced or eliminated.

There is no managerial bromide that can be applied to eliminate the sense of loss people will feel if friends are displaced, nor any simple technique for motivating people to perform at high levels when they have been reminded so bluntly that the organization’s social contract with workers is primarily based on economics.

Managers must deal with the changes introduced into the organization by the BPO project with realism and determination.

Sugarcoating an obvious organizational shift toward headcount reduction and cost containment through BPO will only add to the rumors and anxiety.

During times of transformational organizational change, many managers mistakenly attempt to paint a nosy picture despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They do this out of a natural human aversion to being the bearer of bad news.

They also do this on occasion based on denial; they do not want to believe that outsourcing might target their own jobs in the future.

Honest communication with everyone about the goals of the company, the likely outcomes of a BPO implementation, and the steps the organization, is taking to help workers deal with the change is the best-practice technique for managers to follow.

Yet, it is very difficult for many managers to practice this approach. Sometimes, they cannot be honest with employees because they simply do not know what is going to happen.

That is a leadership issue which we discuss in a moment. Even if the manager does not know the full implications of a BPO transition, it is better to communicate that-admitting to personal ignorance-than trying to provide false assurances.

Motivational experts can now agree that, when it comes to managing people at work, honesty really is (usually) the best policy. On issues regarding workplace changes, policies, and future expectations, there is simply substitute for honesty.

The next most important tactic for managing BPO-induced change is communication. A manager could practice honesty but at the same time be excessively Spartan in his or her communication patterns.

In the throes of dramatic organizational change, people need to talk to another. They need to talk because they need to understand. An individual manager may not be a great communicator, but great communication is not required.

What is required is communication quantity leavened by honesty. Managers who have a tendency toward introversion are not excluded.

If they are uncomfortable with speeches or group meetings, there are other communication channels at their disposal, including e-mails, memoranda, company newsletters, and employee portals.

Managers should leverage multiple channels in communicating with employees about the changes they will be facing, the steps the organization is taking to help them during the change, and, most important, the rationale for the change.

As the BPO transition unfolds, managers will encounter some individuals who will attempt to obstruct the BPO project.

Obstruction can occur in two ways: overt and covert. Overt obstruction is fairly easy to deal with Overt obstructionists are vocal, identifying themselves as being opposed to the BPO project.

They can be dealt with directly using common disciplinary and motivational tactics. It is the covert obstructionists who are the most insidious. They oppose change but work quietly in their obstructionist efforts.

This can include direct sabotage, but covert obstructionists are usually more cunning. They impede progress on a change effort by omission, rather than commission.

They withhold key information or data that they know would aid the transition process. They do not offer helpful information unless directly asked.

They appear to be contributing and happy when they are in fact happy only in their subversion.

Managers can deal with covert obstructionists, but only after they have rooted them out. They are unlikely to identify themselves, masking their inner desire to undermine the BPO project-and maybe the manager.

They can be uncovered, but only with help from those who are working on the BPO transition phase.

Managers must actively query others to determine if there has been any unnecessary foot-dragging or apparent back of motivation to assist in the BPO transition.

This type of querying should be handled in a matter-of-fact rather than an accusatory manner. It is important in the effort to expose covert obstructionists that managers do not impugn those who are, in fact, working diligently to help the process along.

Covert obstructionists are identified through behavior patterns rather than direct acts on verbalizations.

As the manager queries various individuals involved in the BPO transition about how easily they are finding it to get the information they need and where the bottlenecks seem to be, covert obstruction will reveal itself.

It will be revealed in a recurrent pattern of tardiness or sloppiness in deliverables. Covert obstructionists will deliver what they are asked, but it will usually be less than professional grade and often delayed.

Covert obstructionists must be confronted to be controlled. Of count, they will usually deny their obstructionism, claming that they have delivered all they have been asked or that they are working on delivering all they have been asked.

In the worst cases, the covert obstructionists may actually believe their own story. Covert obstructionists must be managed directly.

The manager must be involved with detailing the expected deliverables and time frame, which must then also be linked to the covert obstructionist’s regular performance review process.

The best way to deal with covert obstructionists is to out them and then provide them with clear and unambiguous expectations of future performance.

Of course, the manager must follow up on these expectations, including the use of disciplinary tactics if objectives are not being met.

Leadership throughout the BPO transition must be visible and accessible. BPO transition leaders (as opposed to managers) are expected to have a firm grasp of the BPO business case and an ability to articulate it as needed.

Besides, BPO leaders should have a granular grasp of the BPO business case, which we define as an ability to link it to organizational units and the individuals who work in those units.

Above all, leaders must be able to provide people with answers to the inevitable question “what’s in it for me?”

Companies that undertake BPO projects are most often those that already have experience with transformational change.

In that regard, many within these organizations have personal experience with restructuring initiatives and may have developed some level of maturity, if not outright boredom, with managing change of that magnitude.

In organizations like this, leaders are called on to inject new enthusiasm into the organizational zeitgeist.

Expressions of better possible futures for the company and its employees are the preferred strategy.

Occasionally, leaders are prone to shield themselves from negative reactions by asserting that the decision to use a BPO approach is a matter of organizational survival in a highly competitive economy-the decision was beyond anyone’s control.

Although that may be true, it has the ring of cowardice about it. Far better for the leader to proclaim the BPO strategy as a carefully laid plan that stands to generate compelling advantages for the organization and its employees.

Leaders simply cannot shrink from the need to articulate a vision during times of transformational change. Change is difficult and often requires that people tolerate pain in the short term.

This is made easier by leaders who are able to help people paint a mental picture of a future that will be better and more satisfying than the present.
 

Report This Post